Organic grower damages upheld in pesticide case

Pesticide-spraying permits don't get suppliers off the hook if their chemicals spread to nearby farms, a state appeals court has ruled in upholding $1 million in damages to an organic grower in Santa Cruz whose edible herbs were contaminated.

Pesticide-spraying permits don't get suppliers off the hook if their chemicals spread to nearby farms, a state appeals court has ruled in upholding $1 million in damages to an organic grower in Santa Cruz whose edible herbs were contaminated.

A jury awarded the damages two years ago to Jacobs Farm Del Cabo, whose 2007 crop of sage, rosemary and dill was wiped out by pesticides that drifted from neighboring farms. The crop had to be plowed under because federal law forbids the sale of culinary herbs containing any residue of the pesticides known as organophosphates.